Stories

The Adelaide Hills is claiming the mantle as the home of “modern” Australian Chardonnay, following a recent hat trick by Bird in Hand Wines.

Bird in Hand’s Nest Egg Adelaide Hills 2012 Chardonnay 2012 was awarded the “Triple Crown” of trophies at the Winestate Wine of the Year Awards in November, seeing off 11,000 other wines in 13 categories….including blockbuster Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon.

The prestigious win included Wine of the Year, Australian Wine Company of the Year and the Australian Winemaker of the Year Award for Kym Milne MW.

The Nest Egg has had an illustrious career winning the trophy for Wine of the Show at the International Cool Climate Wine Show in 2014 and Gold Medals at the Adelaide and Melbourne shows.

Wine spotters won’t be surprised given the stunning success of other Adelaide Hills Chardonnays in the last few years, including the Penfolds Bin A Chardonnay, Shaw and Smith M3, Geoff Weaver and The Lane 1A Chardonnay.

These bright and stylish white wines are a long, long way from the ABC (Anything But Chardonnay) days when the variety was over-oaked and over-worked and over – there (drowning the UK).

Now the fruit from the diverse cool climate vineyards of the Adelaide Hills is allowed to express itself with gentle winemaking intervention – natural yeasts, whole bunch pressing, lees stirring, restrained French oak, malolactic fermentation – resulting in wines that are complex and textured with lovely bright acidity and length.